❝

March 2020 – Arrival in Canada: Isolation and Uncertainty

I land at Pearson Airport. A border agent stamps my Permanent Residency and warns me to stay inside for two weeks. COVID-19 has shut the world down. Instead of stepping into a fresh start, I’m confined to a room, staring out at a country I can’t yet explore. Worse, I can’t reach Montreal—the city I’d chosen to call home—because of provincial border restrictions. Days blur together, and the industry feels distant, happening to other people. But instead of waiting, I prepare. I teach myself French, knowing that if I want to break into Quebec’s film world, language will be my first battle. I don’t know exactly how this journey will unfold, but I tell myself: Keep moving forward.

July 2021 – Finally in Montreal

After a year in limbo, I step foot in Montreal. It feels like the real beginning. I enroll in francisation classes. The city breathes cinema—festival posters, indie screenings, filmmaker meetups—but I still feel like an outsider looking in.

April 2022 – RVQC: A Sign 

I attend Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, my first industry event. I sit in on a roundtable with Sylvain Corbeil (Metafilms) and recognize his company’s logo from Egypt—I had seen it on Xavier Dolan’s films. Now, I’m in the same room as its founder. I understand 65% of the conversation — not perfect, but enough. As I leave, something shifts. Maybe I do belong here after all.

December 2022 – First Workshop at Main Film

I sign up for my first filmmaking workshop at Main Film, led by Maria Gracia Turgeon. It’s my first real engagement with the Quebec film industry as a creator, not just an observer. I take notes obsessively, absorbing how things work here—the grants, the process, the collaborations. My French is at 75%, but I still hesitate before speaking, afraid of getting something wrong. Then I remind myself: Filmmaking isn’t about perfection—it’s about execution.

March 2023 – Maillage Selection: The First Real Step

I apply for the Maillage program at Festival Courts d’un soir, which pairs emerging filmmakers with industry mentors. I get selected. It’s my first official step into the Quebec film industry. No producer yet, no funding, but for the first time, I have something concrete: an acknowledgment that my project is worth supporting. I keep going.

September 2023 – Fantasia & First Producer Pairing

For months, I navigate the industry alone, unsure of how to find collaborators. Then, at Fantasia Film Festival, I finally pair with a producer. Suddenly, my project isn’t just an idea—it has traction. I think back to March 2020, stuck in a room with nowhere to go.

October 2023 – PRISME & First Prize

I apply for PRISME, a competitive incubator for emerging filmmakers. Getting accepted feels like another step forward. But the real test is pitching my film to a jury. I prepare relentlessly. I refine my pitch. When the day comes, I give it everything I have. I win first prize. For the first time, I don’t just feel like I’m participating in the industry—I feel like I’m being recognized by it.

August 2024 – First SODEC Rejection: A Setback, But Not the End

I submit my project for SODEC funding. They like it but need proof of past work. It’s a setback, but not a surprise—funding institutions favor those with a track record. I take the rejection as motivation. They want past work? I’m working on it.

September 2024 – Shooting L’Okapi

This is it. My first short film as a director. I step onto set and, for the first time, everything I’ve built leads to this moment. The years of learning the industry, attending workshops, navigating doubts, refining pitches—it all comes down to calling “Action.” There’s no more questioning if I belong. This is what I do.

March 2025 – Artist in Residence at Main Film: Preparing for the Next Chapter

Now, I’m Artist in Residence at Main Film, preparing for my next short and my first feature.

The journey continues.

  ❞

Samir Essa

#MAINARTIST

Our organization is an artist-run center committed to supporting its community as a whole, without distinction.

Beyond the simple declarations of solidarity against racism following the events of the summer of 2020, but also against more recent racist acts and those that persist historically, it seemed essential to us to offer a place to our members so that they can express their feelings in the face of the discrimination they experience and which could be based on the color of their skin, their origins, their sexual orientation, their gender or a handicap.

We invite them to share their thoughts on this societal drama that constitutes all forms of rejection of the other.

Main Film is an artist-run center committed to supporting its community as a whole, without distinction, in the creation of independent film.

Our 31st contributing artist is Samir Essa.

#MainArtist #ArtisteImportant

Because it is artists who carry both the role of representing society and making it evolve.